Aras PLM Platform “Overlay” strategy explained

I’m still at Gothenburg, Sweden attending PDT Europe and CIMdata PLM Roadmap conference. If you missed my blog from yesterday, check out here – CIMdata PLM Roadmap: Digitalization trend and old PLM problems. If you want to learn more about the event, navigate to the following link. CIMdata and Eurostep are partnering to organize this two days event. OpenBOM, the company I co-founded last year, is one of the sponsors of the event together with Siemens PLM, Aras Corp and HCL.

One of the presentation I attended yesterday was done by Marc Lind, head of strategy of Aras Corp. Marc was talking about Aras technologies, Digital Twin, Digital Thread, Aras platform and implementation strategies. I’ve been following Aras for long time so far. Check one of my earlier blogs about Aras – Aras PLM lines up against Windchill, Enovia and Teamcenter. If you thought almost seven years ago, it was a dream, think again – according to Marc it is a reality these days.

So, what is Aras “Overlay” strategy? The idea isn’t entirely new in PLM world. It is about how to introduce a new layer of platform services capable to bring data from multiple systems to Aras Innovator. The following 3 slides are self-explanatory.

As Marc Lind was explaining about Digital Thread implementation, it became clear to me that “Aras Platform Overlay” is s strategy to retire existing PLM (or more specifically cPDM) products mainly ENOVIA, Teamcenter, Windchill and move customers to use Aras Innovator. It is probably not overnight event and will require from customers to run both platforms in parallel. The last can raise many business related questions about value of service and co-existence of multiple platform and business use cases.

What is my conclusion? Aras is executing long term vision and plan to dominant in cPDM (PLM) market. It started from “Open Source” strategy and now moving to the next step. The example above is Aras Corp plan to replace existing enterprise PLM systems for large manufacturing companies. In my view, the idea has some legs. It was introduced last year as “bi-modal” PLM vision. Will it be successful? This is a good question to ask. To me the answer is very much depends on the ability of Aras to flexible, adaptable and to deliver fast ROI in their “overlay projects”. The level of complexity in enterprise manufacturing organizations and PLM implementation is high and demands lot of knowledgeable resources and services to move from concept projects to production. Business model changes will also play a role in the decisions. Just my thoughts…

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